Dental Caries- Causes, Symptoms, Types and

Treatment

Dental Caries
A pathological process which is driven by different factors, for example, cariogenic
bacteria in the mouth, host immune system, and local conditions in the oral
environment are known as dental caries. They are formed due to tooth decay that arises
as a result of bacterial infections.
Different types of bacteria are responsible for producing acids which erode or affect the
tooth enamel and the underlying layers, known as dentin. This acid is originated when
the concentration of sugar in food and drinks gets reacted with the bacteria present in
the plaque. The acid generated leads to the loss of phosphate and calcium from an
enamel. This process is known as demineralization.

How Does A Cavity Originate?

High sugar, starch, and bacteria are one of the major factors which contribute
towards tooth decay. Near about 500 different types of bacteria shelter in a
person’s mouth. They make a combination with food and saliva to develop a
sticky substance called plaque which attaches to teeth. Things that contain starch
add to the stickiness of the plaque and begin to get hard if it continues to remain
on the teeth after a matter of some days and turns into calculus or tartar.
Plaque’s bacteria convert sugar into acid which dissolves the teeth structure,
resulting in holes or cavities. Due to these factors, dental caries is also termed as
a dietobacterial disease.
 About Fluorides

A substance that is found naturally in some water resources is fluoride. It is also

regarded as one of the most common elements on the earth. The most important
thing is that fluorides are helpful in preventing dental arises. The work of fluoride
regarding dental care is that it slows down the process of demineralization, whereby
the enamel loses phosphate and calcium when exposed to acid following ingestion
of drinks and foods that contain sugars.
It is also beneficial in healing the surfaces that indicate early signs of phosphate or calcium loss, like
opaque appearance. It is good to constantly maintain a low level of fluoride in the mouth whole
through the day. Many kinds of toothpaste contain fluoride in it. It is delivered directly or topically
to the surfaces of a tooth with the help of toothpaste, rinses, and assists in maintaining the fluoride
levels in the mouth. Toothpaste containing fluorides are an important source of additional fluoride
and must consume twice a day in order to maintain a constant level of fluoride in the mouth.

Dental Caries Causes

Dental caries can be found in two different areas of the teeth, namely occlusal caries
and interproximal caries. Occlusal caries, which develop on the topmost part of the
teeth where the particles of food repeatedly come in direct contact with the teeth.
Interproximal caries is formed between the teeth. These are the two areas where
bacteria can fix themselves and pose a risk to a person’s oral hygiene. If the teeth
and its surrounding areas are not cared for properly, the bacteria will start digesting
sugars that have been left from the food in a person’s mouth.

After that, it will convert into acids as a waste product. Such types of acids are
powerful enough to demineralise the enamel on the teeth and produce a tiny hole,
which is assumed to be the first stage of dental caries. The tooth loses its ability to
reinforce the phosphate and calcium structures of the teeth naturally through saliva
properties as the enamel begins to break down, and the acid penetrates into the
tooth to destroy or from the inside out.
 Sugar-One Of The Major Cause

According to medical science, frequent consumption of sugars can lead towards dental
caries. Dietary advice is given to limit the frequency of sugar intake. Research has
stated that consumption of sugar remains a moderate factor of risk for dental caries
even when populations have adequate exposure to fluoride. And that exposure is
coupled with a reduction of sugar intake has an effect on caries reduction. It is advised
that the foods and drinks that contain free sugars, like sugars which have been
naturally present in them like fruit juices, honey and syrup should be recognized and
the frequency of their intake especially between meals should be reduced.
 Dental Caries Symptoms

Dental caries can appear at any stage of our life. We can uplift their standards by not taking care of
our teeth and when promote unhealthy eating. Some of the major symptoms of dental caries include
toothache, discoloration, pain at the time of chewing food, tooth loss, tooth sensitivity towards cold
and hot, loose and bleeding gums, etc.

Risk Factors That Contribute Towards Dental Caries

Saliva prevents the mouth from getting dry and it also assists in preventing plaque to attach with the
teeth. It also helps to digest and washes away food particles. A dry mouth or low salivary flow leaves
the teeth more prone towards tooth decay. Given below are some of the genetic factors that affect
dental caries.
Size and Shape- Small teeth having different grooves and deep pits will be more
vulnerable to the formation of the cavity as compared to the larger teeth with less
and shallower grooves. Pits and grooves are responsible for encouraging plaque
formation and are difficult to brush thoroughly.

Enamel’s Thickness- Enamel is the name of the tooth’s main defence against cavities.
Longer the presence of enamel, the longer it will take for a cavity to break through to
the inside part of the tooth.

Tooth Position and Bite- Overlapped and crooked teeth deliver more area for plaque
to aggregate and are tough to keep clean. Several peculiarities can emerge if the bite
is aligned poorly. Poor alignment of the bite can be responsible for causing the
enamel on assertive teeth to wear down rapidly, leaving soft dentin exposed.
Orthodontics is a deliberate cavity-prevention measure as straight teeth which are in
a suitable position tend to stay cleaner as well as more cavity-free throughout a
person’s lifetime.
 Types of Dental Caries

Dental caries can also stand as tooth decay or cavities. It is one of the most common forms of oral
health problems that people face. Even dental caries concludes different varieties starting from
enamel carries to dentin carries, reversible carries, pit and fissure, smooth surface, early
childhood caries, acute dental caries, primary and secondary caries. Out of which we will try to
explain some of them in detail.

Enamel Caries- Impact of cavities on enamel is because of the acidic environment produced by
bacteria. Bacteria get energy by consuming the sugar content of the food and also develop lactic
acid. This acid advances through demineralization of crystals in the enamel. The damage will be
caused continuously till the bacteria physically penetrate the dentin.
Acute Caries- It is a rapid process that affects a large number of teeth. Lesions of these caries are
grey or light brown in colour as compared to the lesions caused by other types of caries. The
unhealthy consistency of these caries makes the digging of the infected teeth difficult. Sensitive
teeth and pulp exposure are the common effects seen in patients regarding acute caries.

Secondary Caries- Edges of restoration and fracture places in the mouth are some of the
common locations of secondary caries to occur. Such types of caries can result from an improper
adjustment of restoration or incompetent restoration extension. In order to treat secondary
caries completely, the complete removal of the original lesion is needed, that may appear as
recurrent caries later.

Early Childhood Caries- This variety of dental caries usually occurs in young children. Early
childhood caries takes place at the time when a baby is fed with a milk bottle at bedtime and
some small amount of milk drops remain inside the mouth for a long interval of time. It can
eventually cause inflammation of the gums, yellowing the teeth and excessive pain in the teeth,
the pain can raise difficulties in eating, speaking or sleeping. Mainly the two upper front teeth are
affected in this caries. That is why one needs to take special care like avoiding bottle-feeding and
night-time breastfeeding once the first baby teeth begin to visible.

Arrested Caries- It is yet another variety of caries that becomes static without displaying any
tendency to progress further. With the stabilization of oral hygiene, even advanced lesions may
be arrested. One of its symptoms contains dark pigmentation without any breakdown of tooth
tissues.
 What Are Microcavities?

Our teeth have been located in such part of a body where a constant acid attack continues which
strips the teeth of important minerals and breaks the teeth down. While these types of attack
occur constantly, minerals also need to replenish with the help of fluoridated water or toothpaste
and mineral-rich saliva. Even phosphate and calcium also favour fluoride in remineralizing the
enamel. After the demineralization happens and is confined to the outermost layer of the enamel,
it is known as microcavity, also known as an incipient cavity. Such types of cavities rarely grant
anything more than very conservative treatment. It really threatens the tooth only when the cavity
breaks through the enamel layer into the dentin.
That’s why when such types of symptoms are detected, it is better to try a remineralization
protocol to explore if they can be reversed rather than jumping to a filling right away. A
dentist will assist you in determining the most effective conservative treatment for such
types of early cavities.

Dentists try to achieve a reputed balance between restoration and prevention, which is a
balance between being reactive and proactive. He doesn’t want to be that much proactive
that he tells those things that don’t need to be performed. On the other hand, he must not
behave so much reactive that small problems become big problems in front of his eyes.

It is common thinking among many people that they often wait for the pain to dictate the
timing of the treatment. Once the teeth start hurting, it often gets too late for small filling
or remineralization. Pain can indicate towards tooth extraction, a crown or even root canal
treatment. It is very important to choose the right dentist who can provide you ideal
suggestions according to the condition of your problem.

Regardless of the dentist, regular returns to the dentist can be classified as one of the keys
of being conservative so that one should examine, monitor and treat and cavity before it
grows too much. More tooth structure gets lost as the cavity tends to grow. It may lead
towards a greater likelihood of recurrent decay, tooth loss or fractured teeth.
 Dental Caries Treatment

Dental caries, in its early stages, can be stopped and reversed as well. Fluorides can
be one of the prevention methods that help a tooth in the early stages of tooth decay
in order to remineralize. Once a break appears in the enamel and condition of caries
get worse, one must need to knock the doors of a dentist’s lab. To provide relief from
the cavity, the standard treatment is to fill the tooth. The dentist might numb the
area if he occupies a drill. There might be possibilities of using a laser, that usually
does not require a numbing shot. After the process, the decayed material in the
cavity gets removed and the cavity gets filled.
 Dental amalgam and composite resins are two of the things used in the process of
filling. Amalgam can be considered as a silver-grey material that is produced from
silver, copper, mercury or other metals. On the other hand, composite resins are
durable and tooth-coloured, and thus offer a better appearance. If the cavity seems
to be large, the remaining tooth may not get able to support sufficient filling material
to fix it. In this case, the practitioner may eject out the decay and cover the teeth
with an artificial crown or a ceramic inlay-onlay.

It happens sometimes that bacteria may infect the pulp inside the teeth even if the
teeth’s part stays relatively intact. At such cases, root canal treatment might be
appreciated. The practitioner will remove the pulp and replace it with an inert
material. In many cases, the teeth need a crown.